This past weekend FanBolt attended the 5th annual Tampa Bay Underground Film Festivalwhich consisted of four days of independent cinema ranging from student films, to visually impressive features made on the most modest of budgets. A couple of those projects included Site 22 and NS404 (Provenance), which I’ve covered in the past. As with most film festivals, there’s quite a bit to take in. Some works projected on the silver screen are very powerful, a few may be thought-provoking. A rare one or two are forgettable. A couple I quietly cheer for because I personally know those involved.

At the end of the day, the judges have the tough decision of awarding only a handful of these artistic visions a plaque showing their excellence in a certain category.

The Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival was founded *5 years ago* by award-winning Bay Area filmmakers, actors, critics, artists and cinephiles to catch the independent films that fall through the cracks and end up… underground. With most independent films going straight to home video, TBUFF offers cast and crew the opportunity to see their movie on the big screen in digital sound at a real theater, as well as marketing, promotion and accolades to shore up distribution prospects.

Although we are “underground,” that has more to do with the “underground” nature of the filmmaking (low budget indies) than genre. We showcase dramas, comedies, action, adventure, crime, musicals, horror, sci-fi, thrillers, fantasies, mysteries, romances, animation, children’s, religious, lgbt, foreign, documentaries, experimental – basically anything, and it doesn’t have to bizarre or on the fringe, though we definitely delight in those. We do love our crazy home state with all of its rogue pythons, sequenced hurricanes and face eaters, but we have plenty of slots for films from beyond the Sunshine and from around the world, plus other worlds and worlds that don’t even exist – just as long as it’s interesting and innovative.